Thinking about whether it is important to spend time on preparing an outline for your novel? Of course, it is. All professional writers create a basic outline for their novel before writing the actual story.
So, what is this ‘outline’? It is none other than the foundation of your novel. On the basis of the outline, you will get an idea of how the story will go, the number of characters that fit in, the situations that are necessary for the story, and you will be able to imagine the final ending of the story.
Your outline can also help you to decide how long you will take to complete the novel, and what sources you need to refer to while writing this particular novel.
Tips for Creating an Outline for Your Novel
Tip 1: Genre of Your Choice
What sort of novels interests you? Thrillers, suspense, family stories, religious stories, motivational novels, ghost stories or even kids or adventure stories. There a lot of genres today to read in the market. Analyze and spot out one category of novels that has fascinated you, always.
Tip 2: End of the Novel
Experienced novel writers or film makers always try to make a mental image of how the last part of their story should be. It could be funny, happy, sad, and mysterious.
They start doing things in the reverse order. According to the end result, they focus on the characters that have to be included, their behaviours, their way of living, the communications and how each person, or animal feels and deals with different conflicts in the novel.
Tip 3: Situations that Lead to the End
This is one segment that needs a lot of thought and care. Imagine that a writer needs to end a family story happily. The story can portray the importance of family relationships, love and presence of God in that family. Such a story will not include too much suspense, but will have many situations that show the ups and downs of any normal family. Furthermore, instances of how they tackled many unforeseen problems by supporting each other would be described.
But if you go for a detective novel, think what sort of crime will be solved in the end. Subsequently, you can keep fitting in suspense and thriller scenes and characters that contribute to the story. Suspense or thriller novels can afford a bit of ‘out of the box’ thinking and situations to add spice into the novel.
Tip 4: Title of Novel
Now you need a name for your novel. Think of a simple name. If you want to create a weird name, ensure that it is simple to pronounce and easy to remember. A straightforward title is good enough for love/family stories. But a thriller needs a mysterious title that could create shivers down the reader’s spine.
Tip 5: Table of Contents
Well, your imaginary outline is all ready. Now it is time to get working. Start writing the Table of Contents, which includes the chapters required for the story. You can further subdivide the chapters with smaller segments to give further descriptions of how the entire story is moving forward.
An outline is the first stepping stone for a professional writer, so if you get that right, your trip to success as a well known novel writer can be within your control. All the best!
Image credit: Port of San Diego on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Teena.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Teena Abraham is an enthusiastic blogger and professional article writer who loves to write and share vital knowledge on any su+bject under the sky. Identifying her passion for blogging and freelancing, presently she focuses on writing eBooks, writing tips and advice on a variety of topics. Creative, multidisciplinary, strives to perfection and an eye for details is how her loved ones would describe Teena. An optimistic and dedicated person who does her best to make sure that her research will make a substantial difference for someone else in this world.[/author_info] [/author]